Last night, I ended up watching one of the mezmorizing games from last year’s Stanley Cup Finals. I thought that series was absolutely epic. It was definitely more exciting than the past two season, in which Detroit dominated Pittsburgh in ’08, then dominated them again in ’09 before losing four of five games at the hands of the trap.

The skill and storylines in this series were unreal. Skill players in the series (aka player who would probably be on the top line in Toronto):

According to Nick Kypreos’ Twitter, Antii Niemi will be signing with the San Jose Sharks as soon as tomorrow. The report says the deal might be a one year worth $2 million.

So what the heck does this mean for San Jose’s goalie situation? Although Niemi is only entering his second season as an NHLer, he has already had more success than veteran Antero Niitymaki, albeit on a stacked Blackhawk’s team.

When long time starter, Evgeni Nabokov, fled to the KHL, Niitymaki was brought in for $4 million over the next two seasons. Many expected him to split time with the up and coming Thomas Greiss, who spent three seasons in Worchester before solidifying his role as backup to Evgeni Nabokov last year.

I really thought that this would be the year we saw Greiss break out, following another Niitymaki injury of course, but now I’m not too sure what will happen. They definitely won’t be sending Greiss down to the minors again, and them traded their newly acquired Finnish goalie is not something that many teams would have to balls to do.

If the Sharks go with a three goalie system, then each of their fantasy value absolutely plummets, at least for the first half of the season. I think Greiss will eventually be the best of all three goalies, so if there is a struggle later in the season, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Niitymaki go out the door at the deadline.

It was bad enough that Jonathan Toews even won the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP when he only had three assists in the Stanley Cup Final (stepping back a bit he only had two even strength goals all postseason!!); now a report has come out saying that because he won the award, he receives a $1.3 million bonus that will count against Chicago’s cap next season.

This is the same Chicago team who was already paying out $57.5 million to only 14 players in the 2010-11 season. Andrew Ladd will be gone regardless, but if they can’t find a way to either bury or buyout Huet, then it probably also means the end of two of Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien or Kris Versteeg.

Two of the guys in the picture are going to cause the other two to find a new team next year.

Even though the Blackhawks are two wins away from winning their first Stanley Cup in almost 50 years, I still can’t help but think about what could have been if they had never dished out the money to Brian Campbell, Cristobal Huet and Marian Hossa.

$20 million goes to those three players alone! Huet isn’t playing, Campbell hasn’t been as effective since Keith’s emergence and while Marian Hossa has picked it up, is he really worth more than your two younger star forwards and the flexibility of your team in the future?

Their cap total next year is already at $57.5 million with only 14 players signed. That is without UFAs John Madden and Adam Burish and RFAs Andrew Ladd, Niklas Hjalmarsson and potential Stanley Cup winning goalie, Antii Niemi.

Maybe without these three they wouldn’t be in the position they would be now, but it is likely going to cost them at least two of Patrick Sharp, Dustin Byfuglien or Kris Versteeg over the offseason. Plus they will be right up against the cap for the next few years.

Alright I’m getting back on track after a busy weekend. For the record, I would have picked Philly for Game 7 Friday night. Also for the record, I went 0-4 in my second picks, after going 6 for 8 in round 1. Oh well….I’m keeping this short…

Chicago Blackhawks vs San Jose Sharks

Too many fast forwards for the Sharks’ slower defense I think. I know Chicago had its’ issues earlier in the playoffs, but they are rolling now after lighting up Luongo. The second coming of Christ, Joe Pavelski, also slowed way down in the late stages of Round 2, so his nine goals may just have been a slight aberration.

Prediction: Chicago in six

Montreal Canadiens vs Philadelphia Flyers

Who would have thought? The seventh seed vs the eighth seed, winner getting a one way trip to a Stanley Cup Final loss. One team beat the two best teams in the East, the other just came back from a 3-0 series deficit to make history. At the beginning of the season, I picked the Flyers to win the Cup….